医疗英语新闻.docx

Enterovirus may be linked to paralysis in 12 Colorado children, study findsnew study by researchers from Childrens Hospital Colorado suggests a potential link between a rare respiratory virus and a form of paralysis that has so far affected more than 100 children in the US.Since early August last year, 107 children over 34 US states have developed acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) - a sudden form of muscle weakness or paralysis. The condition is characterized by limb weakness, difficulty swallowing and/or facial weakness.AFP is normally associated with poliovirus, and global vaccinations for the virus has meant incidence of AFP has become uncommon. But the number of recent cases identified is three times higher than normal.While the cause remains unclear, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have flagged enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) - a non-polio virus that causes mild to severe respiratory illness - as a culprit, particularly since 2014 saw an outbreak of the virus around the same time as cases of AFP rose.Starting in Missouri and Illinois in August 2014, outbreaks of EV-D68 soon started to spread to other parts of the US, including Colorado - where from then until October, several children were admitted to Childrens Hospital Colorado with AFP.Study leader Dr. Kevin Messacar, a pediatric infectious disease physician and researcher at Childrens Hospital Colorado, and colleagues set out to review these cases in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the cause.According to the researchers, between August 1st and September 30th, 2014, there was a 36% rise in the number of respiratory-related visits to Childrens Hospital Colorado emergency department and a 77% increase in respiratory-related admission rates, compared with the same months in 2013 and 2014.During the same period last year, the team notes, there was also a significant rise in the number of nasal samples testing positive for rhinovirus and enterovirus.In a sample of 25 specimens from children